As the popularity of digital video continues to grow, more and more individuals have access to video content through personal computers and electronic media devices. In many instances, viewers simply generate their own video content. Digital capture devices, such as those using the DV (digital video) standard, are now affordable for many consumers. However, many consumers have come to find that while it may be interesting and sometimes even entertaining to capture video, it may be frustrating and very time-consuming to edit the video to produce a more professional feel for viewing purposes.
As an illustration, a family home movie may be recorded using a personal video recorder and then transferred to a personal computer for processing, editing, or long-term storage. Digital recorders conveniently record audio, video, and other content in digital form, such as on tape, computer memory, or a mass storage medium. The multimedia content may then be transferred to a personal computer using any number of interfaces, and then stored as a digital stream such as multimedia file in a number of common formats such as MPEG-1 or MPEG-2, for example. However, in many cases, the video content in a home movie may require editing in order to produce a more polished look and feel to the viewer. The viewer may simply desire a more professional look before sharing the video with friends and family. Use of professional video editing services may not be a feasible alternative in many instances due to cost. Furthermore, traditional off-the-shelf video editing solutions are proving to fall short in meeting the needs of consumers. One common problem with traditional video editing solutions is the degree of complexity associated with the overall editing process. While a number of products (e.g., Muvee's AutoProducer™) are available that may offer some degree of automated video editing, these products still depend on some degree of interaction (e.g., decision-making) on the part of the consumer. Thus, these products still suffer from the same apparent shortcomings as traditional video editing solutions and still require some interaction on the part of the consumer. In many instances, this process can be both time-consuming and complicated for the consumer.